The Egyptians, though, made flour by hand by just rubbing the grain between two stones. The abrasion of stone on stone produced grit that ended up in the bread. Also a lot of work was done outdoors, and sand simply blew into the grain.

So when the Egyptians ate their bread they continually wore down their teeth. It didn’t take too many years before the enamel could get worn through. We have mummies with teeth literally worn down to the gumline.

Thanks to Egypt’s dry climate and the placement of food offerings in tombs we have examples actual ancient bread. For example, the British Museum has a (somewhat stale) 3,500 year old loaf from the New Kingdom.